Chatham County

The drink of gods and men flowed freely Saturday as Mead Day festival-goers browsed arts and crafts booths, watched open-fire blacksmithing and marveled as knights in full armor battled under the midday sun.

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners approved a $99.5 million budget for fiscal year 2015-16 that keeps the same property tax rate, while funding major school and county priorities and adding funds to continue the Pittsboro Express (PBX) transit route between Pittsboro and Chapel Hill.

The early and middle colleges in Durham and Johnston counties kicked off the area’s high school graduation season on Friday. Thousands of Triangle high school seniors will graduate over the next three weeks.

As the statewide adviser for DECA, an international organization aimed at developing students’ skills in marketing, finance, hospitality and management fields, Pam O’Brien has spent the past 15 years exposing students to a larger world.